CLD CONSTRUCTION, INC., Plaintiff and Appellant, v. CITY OF SAN RAMON, Defendant and Respondent. , 120 Cal. App. 4th 1141

Summary

The contractor agreed to construct a public skateboard facility for the city. On the last day for doing so, the contractor filed its breach of contract action. The unverified complaint was signed by the contractor's owner. The owner later filed a substitution of attorney, substituting a law firm as the contractor's attorney of record. The trial court dismissed the action with prejudice, finding that the complaint was a nullity and that the statute of limitations had run before the substitution of attorney. The court noted the weight of nationwide authority and California's increasing acceptance of the view that representation of the corporation by an attorney was not an absolute prerequisite to the court's fundamental power to hear or determine a case. The court concluded that it was more appropriate and just to treat a corporation's failure to be represented by an attorney as a defect that could be corrected, on such terms as were just in the sound discretion of the trial court. Under...